WASHINGTON (Dec. 23, 2008)—Contestants from the Netherlands, Hungary and the United States are the winners in the National Geographic Society’s second annual international photography contest for kids, conducted in partnership with National Geographic Kids magazine and 15 of its local-language editions.

Simon van Lierde of the Netherlands is the grand-prize winner for his photograph of a child swinging, in the People category. The first runner-up is Lilla Balajthy of Hungary for her photograph of ants on a beach, in the Animals category; second runner-up is Carolyn Faye Twersky of Connecticut, for her photo of pipe art, in the Scenery category. As grand-prize winner, van Lierde will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C. The runners-up will receive a certificate of merit from National Geographic.

The three winning images were chosen from more than 15,000 entries from the participating editions. Each edition held local contests, and in the final round they sent one photograph from each of the three categories to National Geographic’s headquarters for judging by National Geographic Kids Editor in Chief Melina Bellows, National Geographic photographer Annie Griffiths Belt and National Geographic Kids Photo Director Jay Sumner.

The local-language editions of National Geographic Kids that took part in the contest along with the U.S. edition were Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Latin America, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Turkey and United Kingdom.

National Geographic Kids, geared towards children ages 6 to 14, is an interactive, multi-topic magazine covering animals, entertainment, science, technology, current events and cultures from around the world. It is now published in 18 local-language editions.

National Geographic is synonymous with unparalleled photographic excellence. The magazine draws on the best photographers around the world and devotes more resources to photography than any other general- interest magazine. Since the 1890s, National Geographic photographers have captured images where readers could not go themselves: places too far, too deep, too dark, too dangerous. Recent advances in photographic technology have illuminated and captured much of the previously unknown.

Through the lenses of National Geographic’s photographers, readers have been able to view unique life forms on the ocean floor, visit sunken ships, explore Egyptian tombs, “see” the temperature ranges of a star, discover the hidden world inside our bodies, observe the microscopic world of molecules and subatomic particles, and savor the perfect structure of a snowflake.

Today, National Geographic’s photographic archive contains 10.5 million images; a selection of these is available for advertising use. National Geographic offers photography workshops and expeditions and publishes photography field guides as well as signature coffee-table photo books.

The National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 325 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 9,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program combating geographic illiteracy. For more information, visit nationalgeographic.com.